Three men have been charged with kidnapping and beating a man Wednesday in Lombard in a dispute over a minivan sale.
It happened about 12:03 p.m. at the BP gas station at 5 E. North Ave., according to DuPage County court records.
Philip A. Stamps, Philip A. Stamps Jr., and Joevantae J. Dixon are all charged with aggravated kidnapping, armed robbery and aggravated battery in a public place, according to court records.
Dixon, 23, of the 0-99 block of Lind Avenue in Hillside, was granted pretrial release Thursday morning.
Information about the detention statuses of Stamps, 47, of the 2300 block of North Ashland Avenue in Chicago, and Stamps Jr., 22, of Springfield Avenue in Chicago, was not available late Thursday morning.
Stamps Jr. and the victim, a 59-year-old man, had stopped at the gas station during a test drive of an Infiniti Q45 car. Dixon and Stamps were in a van that was following, according to petitions for detention filed by prosecutors.
The charges allege that while the victim and Stamps Jr. were looking at the engine, Dixon and Stamps got out of the van. Stamps Jr. then took the victim’s briefcase out of the car and put it in the van, according to the petitions.
The victim went to the van to get the briefcase, which contained a computer and about 40 vehicle titles. The others attacked him and put him in the van, according to the petitions.
Witnesses called police to report a fight.
Police traced the victim’s location by pinging his cellphone.
According to petitions for pretrial detention, the three drove to a mall in North Riverside and several other places, before being found about 3:13 p.m. at California Avenue and Van Buren Street in Chicago.
The petitions allege that Stamps Jr. and Dixon beat and bit the man, including clubbing him with a steering-wheel antitheft bar.
According to the petitions, Stamps told police he had bought a minivan previously from the victim for $1,500, and he wanted his money back because two tires blew out shortly after. He said the victim offered him a few hundred dollars to junk the minivan.
According to the petition, police said Stamps also said his girlfriend had contacted the victim about buying a car and that he believed the victim was going to “scam” her. So he arranged Wednesday’s meeting using a different phone number.
The victim alleged the defendants tried to take $2,000 from him via cash app transfers, took his debit card, and threatened to kill him and his family.
https://www.dailyherald.com/20241107/crime/3-men-charged-with-kidnapping-man-in-lombard/